Poll Results Show Voters' Conflicting Views on SCOTUS Nominee

The pitched partisan battle over whether to wait to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election has become even more complicated by polling that reflects conflicting voters' views.

According to a Washington Post-ABC News survey released Thursday, 44 percent of all voters say they strongly feel the Senate should hold hearings on a nominee from President Barack Obama, while 25 percent feel strongly the Senate should not move forward on it.

Among Democrats polled in the survey, 79 percent agree with their party's leadership in holding hearings for a nominee, while 49 percent of Republicans agree with their party's leadership blockade strategy.

The margin of sampling error for this survey is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

But according to Politico, Majority Whip John Cornyn is circulating a four-page memo throughout the Senate Republican Conference arguing a new survey by GOP pollster Gret Strimple shows a majority of voters prefer keeping Scalia's seat empty for a year — or even longer — rather than allowing the president to nominate a justice who'd move the court to the left.

This survey finds 54 percent were more concerned about a liberal justice being chosen to replace Scalia, compared with nearly 41 percent were more worried about the seat being open for a year or more, Politico reports.

The Strimple findings also show 54 percent believed Obama's likely liberal pick would tip the balance of the Supreme Court, and nearly 56 percent said justices should follow the original intent of the Constitution, in the mold of Scalia.

Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal and NBC News pollreleased Tuesday found 55 percent of voters disapprove of the GOP Senate strategy, though whether the public agreed or not fell largely along party lines.

And a survey by the firm Public Policy Polling commissioned by the liberal group Americans United for Change, released Thursday, finds 56 percent of voters preferred Obama make the Supreme Court appointment, while 40 percent said it should remain empty.

The pitched partisan battle over whether to wait to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election has become even more complicated by polling that reflects conflicting voters' views.